From on the screen to real life. After their characters were involved in a love triangle on Euphoria, it wasn’t long before Dominic Fike and Hunter Schafer took things to another level off screen.
Before Fike joined season 2 of the hit HBO series, the musician dated Diana Silvers in 2021. Schafer, for her part, was previously linked to Massima Desire in late 2020.
Ahead of the sophomore season’s debut in January 2022, Schafer and her costar Zendaya revealed that they weren’t immediately on board with Fike’s character becoming part of their onscreen love story.
“There were a lot of conversations over the years about where the show was going to go and what it was going to evolve into, and I remember when Yana Grebenyuk Sam [Levinson] first kind of talked about the idea of this Elliot character, I wasn’t feeling it — as someone who ships ‘Rules’ to the bitter end,” the Marvel star told Variety at the time.
Schafer, for her part, noted that it wasn’t until she met the musician that her opinion changed. “I think I was in a similar boat to Z when I first heard about this Elliot boy,” the model added. “But, you know, as we saw more of what it brought into the story and the script, it became a more interesting and exciting prospect, and once Dom came on board, he made it a lot of fun.”
That same month, Fike and Schafer sparked dating speculation when they posed together at the season 2 red carpet premiere. The pair were seen on several outings in Los Angeles before they seemingly confirmed their romance with a photo of them kissing in February 2022.
On screen, however, Fike and Schafer’s characters quickly got caught up in a very messy love triangle with Zendaya’s character. During the sophomore season, Jules was initially jealous of Elliot and Rue before she hooked up with the newbie herself.
“That’s not objectively very good for Rue and Jules’s relationship considering that would be cheating. So yeah, it’s kind of a big f–king mess,” the New Jersey native told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “I think Elliot is just chilling and not really thinking about what he’s doing, and I don’t think his intentions are ill, but it’s certainly messy.”
The activist also clarified the show’s approach to Jules’ sexuality after fans voiced concerns that she was no longer a lesbian.
“I don’t think we’ve ever bothered to even try and label Jules’s sexuality because I think it is genuinely as fluid as it can be. She’s still experimenting, she’s still learning. It’s impossible to put the label on it,” Schafer explained. “I think that’s a tough life lesson people have to learn sometimes. Despite having an idea what you should want, or what you would like for yourself to desire, desire can’t necessarily be controlled. And there’s a bit of a contradiction happening in her head.”
Scroll down to relive Fike and Schafer’s offscreen romance: